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AMERICAN GYPSIES 



By ALBERT THOMAS SINCLAIR 



EDITED FROM MANUSCRIPTS IN THE NEW YORK 

PUBLIC LIBRARY WITH ADDITIONS 

By GEORGE F. BLACK, Ph.D, 



THE NEW YORK 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 

1917 



AMERICAN GYPSIES 



By ALBERT THOMAS SINCLAIR 



EDITED FROM MANUSCRIPTS IN THE NEW YORK 

PUBLIC LIBRARY WITH ADDITIONS 

By GEORGE F. BLACK, Ph.D. 



THE NEW YORK 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 

1917 






**7 
SEP 13 191? 



Reprinted August 1917 

FROM THE 

Bulletin of The New York Public Library 
of May 1917 



form p-94 [viii-13-17 3cl 



AMERICAN GYPSIES 1 

MY first acquaintance with American Gypsies was at Mount Desert several 
years ago [C. 1880] . One day while out walking I came across a Gypsy 
camp, and stopped there a half -hour talking with a boy of about seventeen 
who was the only person at home in the camp. He asked me where I lived, 
my business, and various questions about myself. The next afternoon I went 
to the camp again with several gentlemen. As we approached, a large fine- 
looking Gypsy woman of fifty with a face and figure like a Roman matron 
commenced to tell the company where I came from, my business and various 
other particulars. Afterwards, evidently thinking she had made an impression 
by her power of divination, she wished to tell the fortunes of the rest of the 
gentlemen who were much surprised at her correct accounts of myself. The 
whole thing showed the shrewdness of the Gypsy race. She had met and 
spoken with me the previous" morning and had seen me go to the camp, and 
the boy had evidently related to her what I had told him. She recognized me 
the second day and sought to surprise us all by her skill in fortune-telling by 
pretending to divine all she told by her arts. 

As these Gypsies intended to remain a week or more, and I had little 
to do at the time, it seemed to be a good opportunity to learn Gypsy, which I 
accordingly improved. 

As a rule Gypsies are unwilling to teach a stranger their language. It 
was therefore only by liberal presents of cigars and tobacco to the men and 
bright silk handkerchiefs to the women and girls that I induced this band 
to teach me. Again, Gypsies seldom can read or write, and it is not easy to 
learn a language accurately from ignorant people. For instance, I asked how 
they said in Gypsy "Will you have a cigar?" They said "Will tuti lella tav." 
Later, however, I discovered this phrase meant "Will you have a smoke," not 
"Will you have a cigar." Ignorant people also soon tire when teaching you, 
and mislead by their answers, saying "yes" often when they should say "no," 
simply because that happens to make it easier for them. Frequently their 
replies are very amusing, and it is difficult to get an answer to your question. 

Once I remember, I asked a Gypsy how he said in Romani "How much 
will you take for that horse?" The horse was near us. He answered "One 
hundred and fifty dollars." "No," I said, "you do not understand me. I 



1 This is the sixth article on Gypsies and their language published by the Library. They are all 
edited by Dr. George F. Black from the Sinclair mss. in the Library. They appeared in the Bulletin for 
October, 1915; December, 1915; May, 1916; November, 1916; January, 1917; and May, 1917. Each has 
been published separately. 

[3] 



4 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 

do not want to buy the horse, but I wish you to tell me what the Gypsy is for 
these words 'How much will you take for that horse?' ' His reply again was 
"One hundred and fifty dollars." It was only after explaining to him three 
or four times over that I could learn what I wished to know. 

For over a week I talked and studied Gypsy two hours a day, writing 
down all the words and phrases as they occurred. 

This band consisted of the following persons: Cornelius Cooper, twenty- 
seven years old, strongly and handsomely built, six feet in height, black hair 
and eyes, beautiful teeth, and complexion not very dark. Richard Stanley 
was not quite as tall as Cornelius, but darker, and pitted with the small-pox. 
Both of these men had an extraordinary muscular development, and were 
fine-looking, polite, agreeable, bright and witty. The wife of Cornelius was 
a pretty young woman, rather delicately formed, and quite lady-like. She 
was dark complexioned, dressed in gaudy colors and looked the real Gypsy. 
The wife of Stanley was a magnificent looking matron of fifty. She was 
quite tall and large in build, had a handsome figure, but was rather coarse in 
her manner. Still she was jolly and good-natured. Her daughter, Celia, 
seventeen years old, was a strikingly beautiful girl, both in face and figure, 
with clear red and white complexion. Another good-looking young woman 
of twenty dressed with much taste, and always wore a rose or some becoming 
flower in her dark hair. Then there was a boy of seventeen, another of twelve, 
and two small children. All these people had the Gypsy look. Their eyes 
and smile particularly had a distinctive, unmistakable Gypsy expression. 

The old woman and one of the boys danced a kind of jig or shuffle for 
ten minutes or more, Richard Stanley playing the violin. The tunes, however, 
were all English. They knew no Gypsy tunes or dances. All these Gypsies 
were English born, and had traveled a good deal in Wales. It was very curi- 
ous to notice that the old woman and Carrie quarrelled about half the time 
and still always addressed each other as "my dear." The names Cooper and 
Stanley are two famous English Gypsy surnames. These Gypsies had very 
handsome china and silver spoons and teapots, and lived well. Their bread 
was baked in an iron pan over an open fire, and all their cooking was done 
in the open air. 

As a means of livelihood, the men traded horses and the women made 
and sold baskets and told fortunes. In Mount Desert, Gypsy-like, they sold 
Indian baskets as made by themselves, it being less trouble to buy them ready- 
made than make them themselves. Many times I have eaten with them and 
everything tasted very good and was very clean. They had four tents, three 
large gaudily painted wagons in which they slept and traveled about. This 



AMERICAN GYPSIES 5 

band also seemed to have plenty of money, and had with them eight or ten 
horses, some very good ones. 

Until they became well acquainted with me they were continually mis- 
representing things and trying to deceive me, although I had made them many 
presents and treated them handsomely. For instance, Carrie and Richard 
several times intimated to me that the latter knew a language, as they put it, 
"way down deep," which he would teach me for a sufficient consideration. 
Cornelius, however, who, with his wife, seemed the best and most honest 
of the lot, denied this, and said they were teaching me all they knew, which 
was the fact. Even afterwards these two often hinted that I was not getting 
all, and that they were keeping back the "deep" Romani. One day I promised 
to give the four women each a handsome silk handkerchief if they would come 
to my office in Boston and get them. All agreed to this but Carrie, who 
said she preferred one dollar then no matter what a handkerchief might cost. 
After I had presented her with the dollar, I asked her why she preferred it 
to a fine handkerchief in Boston. Her answer was not so foolish by any 
means. She said "If I have the dollar now I am sure of it. What I shall 
get in Boston and when I shall get it I don't know." 

Celia, seventeen years old, was quite pretty. She had a pleasant smile, 
dimples in her rosy cheeks, and a clear red and white but dark complexion. 
Her figure was erect, lithe, and graceful. She was of medium size, and 
had black Gypsy eyes and hair, most beautiful teeth, and was very retiring 
and modest in her manner. 

Carrie was above the medium height, rather stout and buxom, and yet 
with a fine figure, well-shaped and rounded, and very erect. Her eyes and 
hair were black, and, as already said, she always had a flower in her hair. In 
manner and voice she was rather coarse. Both she and Celia showed a good 
deal of taste in their dress and were always clean and neat. 

Charlotte, the wife of Cornelius, was quite pretty when clean and well- 
dressed, and resembles Celia very much, though not so good-looking. 

The country people in Mount Desert all seemed kindly disposed towards 
these Gypsies and much interested in them. Very many came to the camp 
to see them. 

Oct. 15, 1882. I visited a Gypsy camp near Spy Pond, Arlington, Mass. 
There were three families: (1) Thomas Stanley, a rather good-looking Gypsy 
of twenty-six years of age, with dark curly hair and about the medium size; 
his wife, Emma, eighteen years old, a pretty plump flaxen-haired woman, and 
their baby, seven months old, also light-haired. Emma insisted that she was 



6 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 

a real Gypsy and her father and mother before her, in spite of her light com- 
plexion. (2) William Stanley and his wife, who were away to-day visiting 
some Gypsy friends in Somerville, and their children, Venie, eighteen years 
old, beautifully formed, erect, pretty face, nice teeth, dark hair, rosy cheeks 
and very bright. Merrilis, thirteen years old, a bright handsome, lively miss, 
and two boys, not. very attractive in appearance, one about nine and the other 
about seventeen years old. (3) Treshiah Stanley, also away (his wife had 
died recently), and his daughter Elizabeth, twelve years of age, and Joe aged 
ten, Jimmie nine, and Henry aged seventeen. The boys were unattractive in 
appearance. When I arrived and greeted them in Romani they seemed a little 
surprised, and asked me to sit down in their tent. As soon as I was seated 
I offered them all a cigarette each, and every-one took one, girls included. 
The boy, Joe, proceeded at once to smoke his, and soon was stretched out 
on the straw, pale and very sick. The girls did not smoke, but evidently went 
on the principle of taking everything offered. These Gypsies are the dirtiest 
and least attractive I have as yet seen in the country, but the girls were all 
pretty and interesting. As soon as I promised Venie and Emma handkerchiefs 
they both sat down close to me, and anxiously tried to teach me all the Gypsy 
they knew. It was a rather striking fact that two of the girls refused to tell 
fortunes because it was Sunday, and told Jimmie he must not try to sell 
boshito [?] to-day. But they all begged hard for something. Venie wanted 
a handkerchief. So did Emma, and also a pair of boots for the baby. Merrilis 
wanted a pair of stockings. William promised to teach me Romani perfectly 
for a two-dollar-and-a-half pipe. All the boys wanted pennies and the larger 
ones tobacco. 

From them I learned a great many new words, but found that I knew many 
words that they did not, and that I could talk Gypsy easier than they could. 
They had comfortable tents and slept in wagons. They baked their bread in 
a pot hung over the fire, and had plenty to eat of good food. The usual 
dislike to talk Gypsy before strangers was exhibited by all of them. There 
was not so much shyness in the girls as I have found before among Gypsies. 

Oct. 22, 1882. Walked to Spy Pond and found that the Gypsies who 
were there last Sunday had gone. Then I went to Somerville, and was there 
taking a drink of water in the stable when Celia Stanley came in and rushed 
delightedly at me and asked me to come into the house, which I did. There 
I found Charlotte Cooper's father, Richard Cooper, fifty-four years old, his 
wife Marcella, aged fifty-six, his son, Esau, 26, his wife Brittania, about the 
same age, Cornelius Cooper, his wife, and lots of children, small and great. 



AMERICAN GYPSIES 7 

Some of the above I had met at Mount Desert, and since then they had been 
traveling about the country camping out. All had improved in looks wonder- 
fully. Evidently the air had done them good. They were glad to see me 
and invited me to stay to supper, which consisted of cake, a kind of sweetened 
bread with raisins in it, and tea. Marcella calls herself a doctress, and some 
people came in for her medicines, and were much impressed by what she 
said to them. From Somerville I walked to Warren Street, where I found 
Richard Cooper and his wife Fannie, Carrie Stanley, a married sister with 
two small children, her mother, Ann Stanley, and two boys. They too, 
were very glad to see me and called me Romanichal. Ann's mother, named 
Hicks, an old woman of eighty-two, joined the Mormons some twelve years 
ago. I read to them a letter from her which indicated that she was very 
happy and wished them all to come out [to Utah?] and become Mormons. 
But as the letter was written in such a pious strain and the handwriting was 
so good I suspected the old woman had little to do with it. I also read for 
her a letter from her daughter in Toronto. Richard had been on a wild drunk 
for a week and was not feeling very well. The married sister's husband had 
left her, and was a good for nothing fellow addicted to drink. She herself 
had a bad toothache. Carrie was cross and was talking very hard and loud 
about some Gypsy friends who had been interfering with her young man. 
So it was evident that the Gypsies are not all or always the happy, contented, 
sober people Richard pictured to me in Mount Desert. Still the Gypsy camp 
looked quite romantic with its tents and dusky inmates, and a bright log fire 
lighting up their dark faces and characteristic dress. The moon soon broke 
through the clouds and lent an additional charm to the picturesque scene. 

Sept. 17, 1882. I called at the corner of Broadway and Lincoln Street, 
East Somerville, Mass. There I found three families of Gypsies: (1) Samuel 
Cooper, his wife, and nine children. (2) Richard Cooper and family, and (3) 
his son and the son's wife and three children. They all live in the house 
together, and keep a sale-stable adjoining the house. There is a sign on Broad- 
way: "S. Cooper & Brothers, Sale Stable." When I arrived the son was alone 
with his nephew, a boy of ten years. The son was twenty-six years old and 
was born in Tennessee, he told me. He was a healthy, well-built, good-looking 
man. He seemed somewhat surprised to hear me talk Gypsy, and evidently 
was curious to know who I was. He could hardly read or write, although he 
had had a good opportunity to go to school which he said he had neglected. He 
understood almost all I said to him in Gypsy, but said he could not talk much 
as they never talked it much among themselves. Soon his uncle Sam Cooper 



g THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 

drove into the stable. He was a good-looking, well-built man of sixty, but 
did not look ruddy like most of the Gypsies. At first he did not seem much 
surprised to hear me talk Gypsy, but after a little while he became quite inter- 
ested and asked me in a subdued but very earnest tone of voice if I really was 
a Gypsy. His manner then was peculiar, and he spoke and acted somewhat 
as a man would who really wished to know whether I was an old friend or 
a relative. About eight or ten young Gypsy children, from four to twelve 
years old, then came in. Some were very pretty, with dark, brilliant/ eyes, 
lithe forms, and beautiful olive complexions. When I addressed them in 
Gypsy they appeared greatly surprised and interested and asked what kind 
of a man I was. It was a very striking fact that two of the boys, aged ten 
and twelve respectively, and two or three little girls somewhat younger under- 
stood all I said and seemed to know as much if not more Gypsy than the men. 
They could certainly give me the pronunciation more exactly. My explanation 
of these facts is that as they could read and write, and went to school they 
learned more easily and had more exact ideas of what a word was. Then 
Sam's wife came out, a fine looking old woman of sixty perhaps, nicely 
dressed, but in bright colors and with a Gypsy's taste. She seemed quite 
interested in me, but seemed to know but little more Gypsy than the rest. 
She told me not to talk when gorgios [non-Gypsiesj were present, as they never 
liked to do it because people made fun of them. She said she did not teach 
her children Gypsy, and although they understood it a good deal they seldom 
talked it and never when gorgios were about. The old woman brought out 
her daughter, evidently to have a look at a curiosity — a gorgio who could 
talk Romani. The daughter was a very beautiful girl of nineteen, just above 
the medium height, indeed rather tall, with black lustrous hair, a little wavy, 
the brightest of black eyes, an olive complexion, red lips and cheeks. Like 
almost all Gypsy girls here she was very timid and modest, and kept at some 
little distance outside the stable, but evidently anxiously listening to every- 
thing. Her mother several times, particularly when I was leaving, talked 
to me in a very pious strain, such as a revivalist uses to a new convert, telling 
me to "trust in Christ and all would be well," etc. I asked her if she went 
to church, and she answered "too much." I could not make out what she 
meant by such talk. She also asked me if I were married, and when I said 
no, she gave me much good advice on the subject. These Gypsies seemed 
to do a fair business in trading horses, and judging from their own talk and 
what several men said who evidently had traded with them, they were reason- 
ably honest for horse dealers. Richard Cooper himself was in Canada buying 
horses. These Gypsies lived very comfortably and evidently were doing well. 



AMERICAN GYPSIES 9 

They are permanently settled and do not wander about like the majority of 
their race. They told me there were not so many Gypsies in this vicinity as 
formerly, as they found business better in Canada, New York, western Mas- 
sachusetts, etc. There was one family camping out in Dedham, but they 
knew of no others hereabouts now, although others might come here for the 
winter. Sam and his nephew both told me that there were a great many 
"Tinkers" in this country, who knew the Tinker's talk and that this was a 
complete language. 1 They said the tinkers came from Ireland, and talked 
what they supposed was Irish. At all events it was not Gypsy, and they 
could not understand one word of it. These tinkers, they said, traveled about 
and mended tin-ware, etc. Many of them went about the country in wagons, 
camping-out like Gypsies. They said they had seen a tinker encampment 
near Northampton, Mass., of twenty-five wagons, and that they often saw 
them about here. From their account it seems that there must be a good 
many of these tinkers in Massachusetts, as well as in other parts of the United 
States. I had never heard of this and the fact is not generally known because 
everyone supposes these tinkers, particularly those camping out, are Gypsies. 
They told me that one old tinker named Sweeney, lives in Union Square, 
Somerville. 

Sam asked me quite earnestly whether Gypsy was really a language. 
He said he had always supposed it was a mere gibberish like thieves' jargon. 
When I told him it was a real language like English he seemed pleased and 
asked where the Gypsies came from. I told him, India probably, and he said 
"Is it true that we be Indians then?" He said his ancestors were English, and 
that his father and grandfather he knew were English and he himself was 
English. He also said that they had no traditions or idea where the Gypsies 
came from, but that he had supposed they were English. Then he asked if 
there were Gypsies in other countries, and when I answered yes, he wanted 
to know if they talked the same language as he did and understood it.^He 
plainly had no idea where the Gypsies originated, or that there were any out- 
side of England and the United States. These Gypsies, like all I have seen, 
seem to live very happily and pleasantly together. They do not get drunk. One 
said to me, "We generally don't trouble liquor much." 

Oct. 25, 1885. This afternoon I found a Gypsy camp in Brookline, near 
Newton, of about fifteen persons. One of the members, a Mrs. Hicks, was 
born in New York of Irish parents and married to a Gypsy. She was bright, 
intelligent, and fairly educated. She told me her uncle, who was born in 

1 See note on the language of the Tinkers at the end. 



10 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 

Bombay, had a Hindu mother and an English father. He came to this country 
and married a Gypsy. He spoke the language of Bombay better than English. 
Of her own accord, without any suggestion from me, she said that her uncle 
had told her that he thought the Gypsies were Hindus. Almost all the Gypsy 
words and talk he understood perfectly, and stated that they were the same 
as Hindustani. The customs and ways of the Gypsies also were in many 
respects like those of the Hindus. For example, the Gypsies do not wash their 
dishes in the same tub as clothes. Neither do they use the same piece of soap 
for both purposes. He also said that the Gypsies had many peculiarities and 
habits which he noticed and said were the same as those of the Hindus. When 
I asked her to give me some other customs, she said she could not think of 
any of them, but she did remember that he had told her that if the shadow 
of a person fell upon food or water of which a Hindu was about to partake, 
it was considered a bad omen in India, and a Hindu would not touch either. 
The Gypsies will. It seemed to me that some of these customs were of such 
a nature that she was unwilling to speak to me about them. She said many of 
the Hindu words she understood and that they were the same as Gypsy, but 
that her uncle pronounced them a little differently. For example, Gypsy pani 
and Hindu pani; Gypsy mm and Hindu moi; G. kdn, H. kdn; G. bdl, H. bdl. 
All this information she gave me without any suggestion whatever on my part. 
She had not seen her uncle for many years and believed he had died two years 
ago. As she had read a book by Crabb 1 on Gypsies she may have got these 
ideas and words from his book and Gypsy-like deceived me. If not, it seems 
to me that this information tends strongly to prove that the Gypsies came from 
India, and that Gypsy is simply the common language of India as spoken 
when they left the country. How much I regretted not to have been able 
to see this man, one who understood Hindustani and Gypsy both perfectly. 
In order to settle the question a person should know how to speak the com- 
mon Hindustani and Gypsy well. Mrs. Hicks had noticed that the Hindustani 
words were the same as Gypsy, but that they were put together differently. 
Being naturally bright and intelligent and also fairly well educated, her obser- 
vations were far more valuable than those of Gypsies who seldom can read 
and that never well. 

Dec. 6, 1885. This afternoon Richard Stanley gave me the following 
account of Gypsy customs, which was confirmed by the wife of Cornelius 
Cooper. When the Gypsies are travelling on the road, and others are to 

1 The Gipsies' advocate; or, Observations on the origin, character , manners, and habits of the English 
Gipsies... By James Crabb. London: Seeley & others, 1831. 167(1) p. 12°. A third edition of this 
work, with additions, appeared in the following year (London: Nisbet, 1832. xii, (9)-199 p. 12°.). On 
pages 15 and 16 the author gives a brief comparative table of Romani and Hindustani. — G. F. B. 



AMERICAN GYPSIES \\ 

follow them, they place at cross-roads leaves or twigs with a stone on them, 
pointing in the direction they have gone, to apprise those following of the 
way they have taken. This sign they call a patent. When a Gypsy dies they 
bury with him or her all the deceased's clothes. A young girl named Brittania 
died recently and they buried with her in the coffin her finest dresses. Such 
as there is not room for in the coffin are never afterwards used, but are burned 
or made away with in some other way. They never wear the clothes of 
the deceased, but occasionally part of a dress is retained as a keepsake. Jew- 
elry and ornaments they keep. If a person while cooking takes snuff they 
will not eat of the food. This does not apply to smoking, however. If a 
drinking cup or any dish used on the table is thrown in the dirt or in dirty 
water they never use it again but throw it away. It is mokerd "spoiled." The 
soap and tub used for washing dishes is never used for washing clothes. They 
say there is no penalty or punishment among them for infidelity in a husband 
or wife. The fact that the shadow of a gajo mon-Gypsy] falls on eatables 
or drinkables does not prevent their making use of the food. They will eat 
pork, but do not like to do so. They assert that there are many other peculiari- 
ties and customs, but said they could not think of them. Those above men- 
tioned they only spoke of when I suggested them. Being illiterate people 
they cannot tell you about such matters unless something is said which brings 
the idea into their minds. As I have only very recently learned of these cus- 
toms, although I have repeatedly asked them if any such existed during the 
last four or five years, it is very probable many others exist. If I, who know 
the same Gypsies so well and so long, find so much difficulty in obtaining 
information from those perfectly willing and even anxious to inform me, 
how much more difficult it must be to get information in European countries 
where the Gypsies are suspicious, secretive, and much less intelligent. 

Jan. 20, 1886. Richard Cooper and Cornelius Stanley told me to-day 
that girls do not wear any cord (dikla) about the waist before marriage and 
neither are they examined on marriage. The luveni's mark, a slit in the ear 
or lip, they had heard of. They had never heard of any wound or punishment 
inflicted for such or any offense [in America]. Richard Cooper came here 
[from England] thirty-four years ago, traveled all over the southern, western, 
and middle states. He saw no Gypsies except those who came over with 
him or about the same time. He never saw or heard of any Gypsies here 
before that time, but his grandfather had told him that Gypsies were trans- 
ported to Virginia for crimes. 1 They have no customs or habits except those 



1 See note at the end on early arrival of Gypsies in America. 



12 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 

noted above, but he did not mention these until I spoke of them. They never 
knew or heard of any settled Gypsies here except the horse-dealers in Somer- 
ville and one who kept a hotel in Canada. They had seen Hungarian Gypsies 
in museums [shows], and could talk some with them in Gypsy. The Hungarian 
Gypsies, however, told me they [the American Gypsies] could not talk much. 



[C. 1910.] Some thirty years ago when learning to speak American Gypsy, 
I prepared a vocabulary of words, 1 which I used to carry in my pocket when 
visiting the Gypsies in their camps to aid me in talking the lib [language]. All 
the words were collected by myself from Romani vusta (lips) and before I 
had read any publications about the Gypsies. Fortunately I have preserved 
this little book. In it were noted down all I could gather, and I have been 
unable to add much to it since although I have been continually seeking for 
nevo lavs [new wordsj. Undoubtedly I have heard other words formed from 
these, as nouns from verbs, etc. Still it has seemed to me best to add nothing 
from memory. The Gypsies knew also some slang and tinker words, but I 
never heard them use these in conversation. During the winter of 1908-1909, 
one family which I knew then lived in Allston, and I improved the opportunity 
to verify the sound and meaning of every word, but found no changes neces- 
sary. The father, sixty- three years old, is as fine a specimen of the English 
Gypsy as ever delighted my eyes. Over six feet in height, straight as an 
arrow, broad-shouldered, heavily built, strong and vigorous, his beautiful 
teeth still well preserved, and his coal-black hair untinged with grey. He is 
flourishing financially, has plenty of good horses, and is a money-lender on 
a considerable scale. Heretofore he had always been a strictly temperate man. 
This winter with little to do, and several gajo companions who were hard 
drinkers, I was sorry to notice him several times under the influence of liquor 
I thought the matter over, and one day I took him aside and quietly said to 
him "You promised your father on his death-bed never to touch a drop of 
liquor. It killed him, kek pi tato pani apopli, tato pani'M mer tute." (Do 
not drink whiskey again, whiskey will kill you.) His big, black, shining Gypsy 
eyes caught mine for a moment, and seemed to look through me. He simply 
answered, holding out his big hand, miro puro romani pral, ker vastas ("my 
old Gypsy brother, shake hands"), and he has not touched tato pani since. 

Most of the English Gypsies have wandered all over the United States 
and Canada. One woman, who sometimes winters in Allston, was born 



1 This vocabulary, with additions from other manuscripts of Mr. Sinclair, was published as "An 
American-Romani Vocabulary" in the Bulletin of The New York Public Library, v. 19, p. 727-738. New 
York, 1915. — G. F. B. 



AMERICAN GYPSIES 13 

"between" Georgia and Alabama "just before the war." One of her brothers 
"is always on the road in the south, and another camped out for many years 
in California." A girl belonging to another family which sometimes camps 
here was named Tennessee because she was born in that state. 

I have very rarely, if ever, seen or heard of a Gypsy family in America 
which did not get on comfortably. Sometimes the rom [husband] drinks, or 
is shiftless, but then the romni [wife] seems always to support the family well. 
One such I know dickers [tells fortunes] at fairs given for churches, hospitals, 
etc. She receives one-half the profits, and her share is often as much as twenty- 
five dollars a night. Selling baskets at houses and telling fortunes also brings 
her a good deal of money. -Relatives always assist if necessary. The men 
deal in horses principally, and do well at the business. They have learned 
by experience that a reputation for fair dealing is a valuable asset. A news- 
paper item, some years ago, stated that a Gypsy furnished all the horses for 
the horse-car lines in San Francisco, and made a large fortune through his 
ability and honesty. Many have accumulated handsome properties. In Boston, 
Somerville, Fall River, Providence, Worcester, Hartford, New Haven, Spring- 
field, in New England, and in many other cities of the Union, Gypsies own 
real estate, free and clear, worth from twenty to a hundred thousand dollars. 
Many have thousands of dollars in ready money, and some are money-lenders. 
I have full details of such cases. The very large proportion are temperate, 
much more so than formerly, I think. They are nearly always on good terms 
with every-one who comes in contact with them, and the old prejudice against 
their race has largely disappeared. 

Many Gypsy children attend the schools except when on the summer 
tramp. They are popular with their teachers, and liked by the other children 
with whom I see them playing every day. The Gypsies here are let alone, 
and taken as a whole are fully as well behaved and prosperous as any of the 
immigrants who come here. They do not engage in mercantile pursuits, or 
become professional men, and hence rarely acquire the large fortunes some- 
times possessed by these classes. Those who have secured a good deal of 
money and own comfortable houses of their own look vigorous and healthy, 
both themselves and their children. But those who are obliged to rent the 
poorer class of houses for six or seven months in the year in order to give 
their children an education, find different results. Their children show by 
their looks, health, and physique, that the life led necessarily in our cities by 
the poorer classes simply saps the vitality and life of the Gypsies. 

The following phrases I have copied from old note-books. They were 
taken down as I heard them when I was learning Gypsy, and illustrate the 



14 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 

ordinary Gypsy talk as I used to hear it. Some old Gypsies still speak in the 
same way at times, but the younger generation has lost the greater part of 
their Romani tongue. 

mils paldl tute; dlk avrl, a man behind you; look out. 
lende si bind adre kova tern, he is born in this country. 

tut's jolen i adre puro tern ilprd bero pdrddl bdro pant, you are going to the old 
country in a ship over the ocean. 

mar cal clcl, don't take anything. 

cero kiivo, mar diiker lende, poor thing, don't hurt him. 

mor dul lende apre the mm, don't hit him in the mouth. 

lende sis komlo diken mill, he has a pleasant-looking face. 

ker the witdar, shut the door. 

dul miisas kiiren, two men fighting. 

duvd's a dulen grdi, kek tad adre the wiirdar, that is a kicking horse, he doesn't 

pull in the wagon. 
ma riv ydjufo adre kongerl, civ it pale, don't wear the apron to church, put it back. 
mdnde koms 2 cumini to ha, I want something to eat. 
mdnde jins kumier than dilva mus, I know more than that man. 

Tilly, lei siv and tav and siv apre the hev adre the cdfo, Tilly, take a needle and 
thread and sew up the hole in the coat. 

tute si mistd adre the tern, you are better in the country. 

duvd's, feterderus tiivlo, that is the best tobacco. 

del mdnde mdro and kuro liveno, give me some bread and a mug of beer. 

siker the rdi the riipeno pldmengero, show the gentleman the silver teapot. 

milk lende ac kiirl, let him stay at home. 



SECRET LANGUAGE OF TINKERS 

This Tinkers' talk is a secret language once in common use among our 
traveling tinsmiths and umbrella-menders, but now, like the Romani, rapidly 
dying out. The language is variously known as Shelta, Shelrun, Sheldru, 
Shlldru, Bog Latin, Minklers' Thari, Tinkers' Cant, "the ould thing," etc., and 
in Scottish Gaelic as Laidionn nan ceard "the gibberish of tinkers." The study 
of this idiom is one of much interest, and it has fortunately received the atten- 
tion of a few scholars, chief of whom is Dr. John Sampson, librarian of the 
University Library, Liverpool. The first to draw attention to it was the late 
Charles Godfrey Leland, who collected a number of words and sentences from 
an English vagrant at Aberystwith, in North Wales, and from an Irish tinker 
in Philadelphia (The Gypsies, Boston, 1881, p. 354-372). The language 
is based on old Irish of from one thousand to fifteen hundred years ago. 
Numerous references to it occur in early Irish manuscripts, and it has been 



1 The suffix -en, here and in diken and kurcn, further down in the list, is simply the English termina- 
tion -ing. 

2 The j here and in jins is the ^ in vulgar English "I wants." 



AMERICAN GYPSIES 15 

identified with the ancient secret language called ogham or ogam, a word which 
probably survives in the Shelta game or gamoch, meaning "cant" or "slang." 
Several Shelta words are found in an old Irish manuscript called Dull Laithne 
or "Book of Latin," copied in 1643 from an older ms. Shelta words are 
manufactured from Irish by reversing or transposing the letters of the original 
word, as, ad "two" (Irish da), kam "son" (Ir. mac), nap "white" (Ir. ban), 
nyuk "head" (Ir. ceann). A few instances where Shelta and Irish are identical 
are found in the words braas "food" (Ir. bras), muog "pig" (Ir. muc), shkiblin 
"barn" (Ir. sgiobolin), nedas "place" (Ir. ionadas)', she "six" (Ir. se, pron. 
she), kunya "priest" (Ir. cairneach "a druidical priest"), and gyukera "beg- 
gar" (Ir. geocaire). Other methods of forming Shelta words from Irish are 
by changing the initial letter, and by the prefixing, suffixing, or interpolating 
of certain letters, principally gr, b, sh, th, etc., e.g., jumnik "Sunday" (Ir. dom- 
nach), laskon "salt" (Ir. salann), grasol "ass" (Ir. asal), binni "small" (Ir. 
min "fine"), shlug "weak" (Ir. lag), minker "tinker" (Ir. tinceir), tober 
"road" (Ir. bothar), etc. 

Prince Henry's boast (First Part King Henry IV., act ii, sc. 4) that he 
could "drink with any tinker in his own language," has always been taken to 
refer to Romani, but Shelta is more probably the language Shakespeare had 
in mind when he penned the lines. 



GYPSIES IN AMERICA 

That Gypsies were in America at a very early period is shown by the 
two following documents, now rendered into English for the first time: 

"The King. The president and judges of our royal court which resides 
in the city of La Plata of the province of Charcas [a part of old Peru, nearly 
corresponding to modern Bolivia] : We learned that there passed secretly to 
some parts of our Indies, Gypsies and persons who' go about in their costume 
(and speaking their) language, making use of their intercourse and irregular 
residence among the Indians (whom they deceive easily on account of their 
simplicity); and because, having considered the damage they are causing in 
those dominions, order was given to gather them up, and since their life and 
manner of behaving is so harmful over here [in Spain], the courts have to 
deal severely with them, it is understood that over there [in America] it is 
much more harmful on account of the distances between the several towns, 
whereby they are able to hide and conceal their crimes, and as it is not con- 
venient that any one of them should remain there, we command you to inform 



16 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 

yourselves and to find out with much care, whether there is in that province 
any one of that tribe or goes about in that costume, and if there should be 
any, you will order that they shall be sent at once to this kingdom [Spain], 
embarking them on the first ships which may get there, with their wives, 
children, and servants, without permitting anyone to remain in those parts 
for whatever reason or cause they may bring forth, because this is our will. 
Given at Elbas on February 11, 1581." 

"In the city of La Plata, on November the 5th 1582, the president and 
judges of this royal court, in accordance with justice (or law) having seen the 
royal letter of His Majesty, obeyed with due reverence and in its fulfilment 
they have said that up to this date there was no indication in the district of 
this royal court, of any Gypsies or persons going about in their costumes, and 
they (the president and judges) will take care to know and hear whether there 
are any here or will come here hereafter, in order to perform and execute 
what His Majesty is commanding." 1 

The Gypsies of Brazil, according to Dr. Mello Moraes (Os Ciganos no 
Brazil: Contribuigao ethnographica, Rio de Janeiro, 1886), are mainly descen- 
dants of Gypsies transported from Portugal towards the close of the seven- 
teenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century. By a decree of 27th 
August 1685 the transportation of the Gypsies was commuted from Africa 
to Maranhao (p. 23); and in 1718, by a decree of 11th April, the Gypsies 
were banished from Portugal to the city of Bahia, and special orders were 
issued to the governor to be diligent "in the prohibition of their language and 
cant (giria), not permitting them to teach it to their children, that so it might 
become extinct" (p. 24). On p. 40-41, Dr. Moraes mentions M..., after- 
wards marquess of B.. ., belonging to the Gypsy race ("pertencia a raqa 



1 As these entries are of considerable interest the original Spanish is here added: "El Rey. Presidente 
e oydores de la Neustra Audiencia Real que reside en la ciudad de la Plata de las provincias de los Charcas: 
Nos somos ynformado que encubiertamente an pasado a algunas partes de las Neustras Yndias xitanos 
y personas que andan en su traxe y lengua vssando de sus tratos y desconcertada viuienda entre los yndios, a 
los quales por su simplicidad engafien con facilidad; y porque habiendose considerado los dafios que caussan 
en estos Reynos, se dio orden en recogerlos, y siendo aca su vida y termino de tratar tan prejudicial, 
teniendolos la justicia tan a la mano, se entiende que lo sera alia mucho mas por las distancias que ay 
de vnos pueblos a otros, con que se podran encubrir y disimular sus hurtos, y no conuiene que alia quede 
ninguno dellos, os Mandamos que con mucho cuydado os ynformeis y sepais si en essa prouincia ay alguno 
de la dicha nacion o que ande en el dicho traxe, y hauiendolos, ordenareis que luego sean embiados a 
estos Reynos, embarcandolos en los primeros nauios que vinieren a ellos con sus mugeres, hijos y criados, 
sin permitir que por ninguna via ni caussa que aleguen quede ninguno en essas partes, porque esta es 
neustra volundad. Fecha en Elbas en once de Hebrero, 1581." 

"En la Ciudad de la Plata, a cinco dias del mes de Nobiembre de mill y quinientos y ochenta y 
dos afios: los sefiores Presidente y oidores desta Real Audiencia en acuerdo de justicia, haviendo visto 
esta Cedula Real de Su Magestad la obedescieron con el acatamiento debido, y en su cumplimiento dixeron 
que hasta agora no se a tenido noticia que en el destrito desto Real Audiencia anden ningunos xitanos 
ni persona que anden en su hauito, y tendran cuydado de sauer y entender si ay algunos 6 que vengam 
de aqui adelante para cumplir y executar lo que Su Magestad manda." — "Cedulas y provisiones del Rey 
Neustro Sefior para el gobierno e provincia, justicia, hacienda y patronazgo real, etc., desde el ano 1541 
a 1608." In: Coleccion de documentos ineditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquesta y organizacion de 
las antignas posesiones- espaiiolas de America y Oceania sacados de los archivos del reino y muy especiahnente 
del de Indias competentemente autorizada, v. 18, p. 138-139. Madrid, 1872. 



AMERICAN GYPSIES 17 

bohemia"), who acquired an immense fortune from his acting as middleman 
in the purchase of slaves. From incidental notices throughout his work it 
would seem that the Brazilian nation from the highest to the lowest, is strongly 
tinctured with Gypsy blood. 

In 1665, the Privy Council of Scotland gave warrant and power to 
George Hutcheson, merchant in Edinburgh, and his co-partners, to transport 
to "Gemaica and Barbadoes" many strong and idle beggars and "Egyptians"; 
and fifty years later nine Gypsies from Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, men and 
women, were transported by the magistrates of Glasgow to the Virginia planta- 
tions in the ship "Greenock" at a cost of thirteen pounds sterling. 

Dr. Alexander Jones, of Mobile, Alabama, in a communication to the 
American Journal of Science and Arts (v. 26, p. 189-190, New Haven, 1834), 
gave a brief account of a colony of Gypsies on Biloxi Bay in Louisiana, "who 
were brought over and colonized by the French at a very early period of the 
first settlement of that state [C. 1700]. They are French Gypsies and speak 
the French language, they call themselves Egyptians, or Gypsies. The French 
call them indifferently, Egyptians or Bohemiens. 

"What is remarkable, since their colonization in this country, they have 
lost the distinctive character of their idle and wandering habits. They are 
no longer strolling vagrants; but have, in the lapse of time, become in all 
respects, like the other French settlers found in Louisiana. They appear 
equally polite, hospitable, and intelligent. They also possess all the industry 
and enjoy all the ordinary comforts of settled life, that belong to the French 
inhabitants generally. 

"The only striking difference between them, is seen in their complexion 
and in the color of their hair, which is much darker in the Gypsies, than in 
the French population. Their hair is also coarser and straighter, than that 
of the French. 

"Their intellectual vigor, appears to be as great, as that of any people. 
A young man of this colony, received a collegiate education at Georgetown, 
D. C., and is residing in New Orleans; and there are probably few men to 
be found in the United States of his age, whose knowledge, and learning are 
more profound and varied than his. He is also a good and ready writer. The 
most of the foregoing facts," Dr. Jones adds, "were derived from an eminent 
and learned lawyer of Mobile, who speaks the French language fluently, and 
has traveled among, and conversed familiarly with these Gypsies." 

These Louisianan Gypsies are also mentioned by F. L. Olmsted in his 
Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (New York, 1856). The author records 



v 



lg THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 

a visit made by him to the house of a southern planter, who, when a boy, 
had lived at Alexandria, Louisiana, which "was then under Spanish rule" [i.e., 
before 1803]. The inhabitants of the place at that time, it is stated, were of 
mixed nationalities, French, Spanish, Egyptian, Indian, Mulattoes and negroes. 
The Egyptians, the planter said, had a language of their own, but knew also 
French and Spanish. Though of a dark color they "passed for white folks" 
and frequently intermarried with Mulattoes. They appear to have been entirely 
absorbed in the general population by 1850, the period of Olmsted's visit, and 
probably, as is the case in Brazil, many of the oldest families in Louisiana at 
the present day may be of Gypsy descent. 

A brief notice of a tribe or family of Gypsies "encamped in the woods 
of Hoboken, on the opposite shore of the North River, from New York," in 
1851, appears in the Family Herald, v. 9, p. 335. 

In a communication to the National Gazette, under date of May 19, 
1834, 1 a writer mentions having known for several years a gang of Gypsies 
who occupied a spot of waste ground about four miles north-west of Kinder- 
hook, called de Bruyn's Patent. They were, he says, "denominated Yansers 
by our Dutch inhabitants; probably from their family or patriarchal name 
Jansen. They have the features, complexion, and habits characteristic of 
the Gypsies of writers. Our tribe, it is conjectured, emanated from a larger 
establishment of them at Schoharie, with whom they maintain an intercourse 
. . . There is yet another tribe at or near Schenectady, called Yansers, although 
their patriarchal name is Keyser. A gentleman appointed some years ago to 
some town office there, states that he found a charge of £4 10s. for whipping 
Yansers; the amount being small was allowed. A similar charge being brought 
the next year, he asked what in the name of goodness it meant? Behold, it 
was for chastising Gypsies whenever occasion presented, which was done with 
impunity and for some profit. . . It is due to the inhabitants of the village 
to state, that [when] seven years ago the small pox invaded the huts and caves 
of their settlement; the best medical aid and provisions w T ere furnished to 
them the latter being delivered on a boundary line, which they were enjoined 
not to pass. ... It is supposed by the best informed of my neighbours, that 
they came over with the early settlers in the German Valley; that, disliking 
the laborious employment of their fellow-adventurers, they withdrew them- 
selves to a separate establishment, where they might subsist themselves by 
their wits and lighter occupations. They are everywhere manufacturers of 
baskets, brooms, and other wooden wares." 



1 Reprinted in the Family Magazine, v. 2, p. 87. New York, 1835. 



